Craft: Let's get moving!

All of us know that exercise is an activity that we should do almost every day. But studies now report the damage of sitting too much. We are a nation of computer users and TV watchers. The studies done recently demonstrate that being sedentary is damaging to our bodies.

My walking averages 40 miles a month, 480 miles a year. I have been doing this for more than twenty years. On top of that activity, I do two hours a week of yoga for strengthening and stability. What I did not know until recently, from the new studies, is that getting up and moving is as beneficial as exercise.

My husband says I cannot sit still for any length of time.

"Three years ago Women's Health magazine was the first to expose "sitting disease." The gist: Too much inactivity can leave you prone to such deadly ailments as heart disease and obesity. The advice: Get moving."

"The human body evolved to move around" says James Levine M.D., Ph.D. a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. He continues, "Surprisingly, young women are especially prone. Research has shown that they spend more time sitting than others."

According to the Health & Family section of Time magazine, "sitting for more than two hours a day can cut two years off a person's life expectancy, even if he or she exercises regularly. The recommended amount of moderate activity a day for adults is a half-hour. But what about the other 23.5 hours of every day?" The article goes on to say, "Sitting, it turns out, can shorten your life expectancy almost as much as smoking can ..." Former Secretary of the Department of Defense Donald Rumsfeld never sat down in his office. His desk was a drafting table with no chair.

Now this is not to say you should stop doing exercise. The studies show daily exercise is beneficial. But the conclusions are that if you sit too much for the rest of your day, those benefits are greatly reduced.

There is good news for you dog owners. According to Parade magazine, "In a recent Canadian study of people up to age 80, dog owners were found to walk about 300 minutes per week, almost twice as many as those without a canine." As all of us who love our dogs know, who can resist that face?

Several years ago, my husband could not walk a block due to very painful vein blockage in one calf. The doctor gave him two choices: either undergo complicated vein surgery or go home and walk as fast as he could every day until the pain became too much. He told him that his body would build new veins around the blockage and it would get better with the walks. Today, he walks our dog every day for more than a mile and a half and has no pain. The body is an amazing machine that has to move.

I know some of you reading this article have physical limits and issues that make it hard to move a lot. But talk to your doctor about how much activity you can safely do to combat being sedentary.

One of the most amazing videos I have ever seen is titled; Never, Ever give up. Arthur's inspirational transformation, on youtube.com. It tells the story of a handicapped military veteran and how movement, especially yoga, changed his body and transformed his life.

The recommendations from the studies on sitting too much suggest several ways to combat the effects: cooking, gardening or just cruising around your office several times a day. The key is move around as often as you can. All of us want to be active and healthy as long as we can. The adage is indeed true, move it or lose it!